The move makes some sense. Despite a fluctuating economy, Italy has a strong collecting tradition. François Chantala, a partner at Thomas Dane, says: “The scene in Italy has always been discreet, established and savvy—not dissimilar to Germany, Holland and Belgium in the 1960s and 70s.” But with little evidence the domestic market is expanding, does Italy have the critical mass of high-level collectors required to sustain these galleries, or is their arrival merely a symptom of the enduring appeal of la dolce vita?